Allie + Brian

I am so excited for my friends Brian and Allie. They have committed to working overseas as missionary next year and are getting ready for their big adventure. They needed pictures for their prayer cards and I was more than happy to help! We met in downtown Durham and as much as I hate Duke, the town is really up and coming and has lot’s to work with….can’t wait to shoot there again! Please pray for the two of them as they prepare both physically and mentally for this calling. They are both so inspiring and have such a passion for the people they are called to work with. Best wishes to both of you!

Train!

Well it is not my intention to completely terrify a child during a session, but I think I kind of did during this session with “j”. His mom requested we do pics on railroad tracks so I suggested a location where I knew an engine usually sits. We got luckier than we had bargained for! Not only is there an engine sitting there…but the whole train! It was excited to see it sitting there, but when it started moving and blowing the whistle, even the two of us adults were intimidated by all of the power and just overall size of this powerful train. He calmed down after just a few minutes and we were able to get some fun shots on the tracks and around the area. Thanks for a fun morning, j, and for being so brave!

The Results

Well after MANY votes, we have a winner! Congrats to Debbie and Wes on winning our love contest. They had the most votes by the end of the night and win a couples portrait session as well as a $100 gift certificate to use here at Orange Cat Photo. Thanks to all of you that entered…it was fun to read your stories and see you shamelessly promote yourself to all of your facebook friends! haha!

And because I include a picture with every post, here’s the newest pic of Olivia. (And yes, I do actually take pictures of other people, it’s just so much fun to share these! I do have LOT’S to post soon so keep checking!)

The LOVE contest!

Happy Valentine’s Everyone! I posted on Facebook that we will have a contest for couples around Valentine’s Day. The couple with the most votes gets a free session and a $100 Orange Cat Gift Certificate. Read below all of the fun stories of how they met and vote for your favorite story. It’s going to be a tough choice because there are some really great stories. You can see that we have couples in all stages; newlywed, engaged, dating, married with a baby. I have really enjoyed reading all of the stories and I hope you will too!

Voting will go through Valentine’s Weekend, so at midnight on Sunday we will have our winner. Vote as many times as you’d like!

***To vote scroll to the bottom where you will see a list of all the contestants.**

Here are the entries and their stories:

Hana and Darren

To preface: I grew up in Nashville, TN and went to college in Knoxville, TN. Darren grew up in Knoxville and went to college in Nashville.

The day after I made my cross-country trip to start a new job in Boca Raton, FL I went to dinner with my new roommate, whom I had just met right before I moved in. I was fresh out of college and had decided to take a job in a city where I knew no one. We went to a popular restaurant in town and we just happened to meet Darren and his friend “Truck” at the bar while we were waiting for a table. We instantly clicked, both being from Tennessee and having just recently transplanted ourselves in South Florida. The four of us ended up having an enjoyable evening and I went home feeling glad that I had made some friends that reminded me of home.

Exactly one week later I went in for my orientation at work and there he was! We laugh now that we were the only two people in the office tall enough to see each other over the cubicles. It turned out that we had both been hired to start on the same day at a wine distributor in Miramar, FL. Our relationship was cemented later on that summer when he rescued me during Hurricane Frances when I was trying to evacuate and had no gas. We decided if we could stand twenty-four hours in a car on the Turnpike trying to escape a hurricane, then we could make it through anything!

Ironically enough, later on I found out that the only other job I had been offered after college was from none other than Darren’s father! Crazy! We would have met either way! Some things are just fate!

Jessica and Coy

My name is Jessica Norris from Matthews, NC and I heard about your contest on Erica’a facebook! So, in loving support of her, my husband and I decided to enter! Here’s our story!

When I first met Coy, I’m not so sure it was love at first sight… or maybe it was? I was working for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a supervisor in the department and he was hired as a regular employee. It was my job to make sure he was properly trained and knew the campus well enough to complete his job. He was everything I always said I’d never be with. I’m originally from Maiden, NC and could never seem to wait to get away from the small town life. (or the boys it came with!) Coy was from Marshville, NC (yes, home of Randy Travis!). He had a strong southern accent and the farmers tan to go with it! Not to mention, I was currently in a relationship. As time went on, I became better friends with Coy and knew that he was a really sweet person but never thought much more of it. He took time in finding out who I was. Not just my name though. He would ask me soooo many questions everyday and actually remember the answers. He wanted to know my biggest fears, or what made me really laugh. He wanted to know my favorite day of the week and how my childhood was. I had never met someone so fasinated with me talking as much as I am!! I guess this leads to my favorite part. One day he asked what my favorite song in the entire world was. I told him it was “Swing Life Away” by Rise Against. He had never even heard of Rise Against. So, I told him all about them and then I proceeded in telling him that if anyone EVER played that song for me, I’d love them forever! (joking of course). Maybe three days later Coy asked me to come by and help him study for our Statistics class. I had never been there before. We were more like the “work, sit together in class, and text each other a thousand times a day” kind of friends. Not the “lets go visit each other” friends. For whatever reason I said ok and stopped in after work. His roommates where laughing like fifth graders and kept yelling at him to just “do it”. I figured I was missing some sort of inside joke. (I’m pretty nieve). Well… Coy went to his room and called me in there a second or two later. I walked in and he was sitting with a guitar in hand and started to play a familiar tune. In a moment, I realized that he was playing my favorite song.. I remember just standing there and just starring at him. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I could barely even breathe. In that very moment, I knew that I was in love. I think its crazy how things have a way of just finding us. Especially love. Coy was everything I thought I never wanted. And looking back, he’s everything I ever deamt of. We have been together for almost two amazing, eventful, loving years. Six months of which, we have been happily married. He is my other half. They answer to every question I never knew the answer too. We dated for almost six months before we told any of our closest friends. (I was still his supervisor). That was the hardest part in my life. We slowly began to tell close trusted friends and then, after a year, when Coy proposed, I quit my job and told them I had a wedding to plan. Their faces almost made it all worth it. This will be our second Valentine’s Day together and our first married. I cannot wait to see how many more we see together and how many times he will sing my favorite song when I least expect it.

Erica and Jared

A few years ago my mother, who owns an assisted living company, had gone into a clients apartment to find the 93 year old missing. My mother immediately called 911 and a few minutes later half of the Hickory Police Department showed up. They searched for hours with no luck and finally decided to call in the K9 officer. Once the K9 officer got there and started his search he found the lady hidden in the woods under sticks and leaves. My mother was so relieved and couldn’t thank the officer enough. As he came out of the woods to meet with the other officers my mother called me to tell me “a very attractive officer is here! You have to come meet him.” I refused. Being set up by my mother is not on the top of my list of things to do. She continued to call me and ask me to come out there and I continued to say “NO!” My mother finally gave in and told a few of her employees “I have a daughter for him.” but I sure didn’t go meet him…that day.

Weeks passed and my mother never mentioned him again. A friend of mine had told me for awhile she wanted to hook me up with a friend of hers, Jared. I don’t really like being set up, especially on a “blind date”, I’m very shy when it comes down to it so I thanked her and declined again. However, she insisted that I atleast take his number and text him and just see if we got along. She gave him my number as well and a few days later I decided to give into curiosity and text Jared. Over the next few weeks we’d text back and forth, he’d ask me to dinner and I’d say no. It seemed like a never ending cycle until … I gave in. We decided to meet for dinner at The Tapp Room and that day, I backed out three times. I ended up going and had a GREAT time. He was really someone that I could talk to, I could just have fun with him and not worry about being “stupid”. We just had fun together and to me…having fun with someone is what life is about.

A few dates later I decided it was time to introduce him to my parents, something I’ve NEVER done before. I’ll never forget my mothers face as Jared walked up on her front porch. There was the officer who had found her missing lady, the officer she had tried over and over to get me to meet, and somehow after all of that time we had found a way to meet after all. Six months later Jared and I were engaged and and five months later we got married at The Atlantis on Paradise Island. Today we have a son, Jackson, who was born two months early… on July 4th (amazingly, my mothers birthday.) he is a healthy little munchkin and I can definitely say God has blessed us beyond belief!

Candace and Jared

I was in a relationship that was really not going in the right direction. So, I went down to Naples, FL to see my best friend of 20 years and clear my head.

I was there for a few days and then we had a big group go out for dinner. Erin, my friend, told me that a guy was coming that probably wouldn’t be going out with us after but he was really nice. He sat at one end of the table..I sat at the other…there were about 20 people between us. Our eyes met and I had to meet him. I got up to go to the “bathroom” and introduced myself..he picked up the phone and cancelled his other plans. We hung out all night and for the rest of the time I was there.

I went home to Atlanta, GA….made a very clean break from my on again off again guy of 4 years and prayed for the right thing to happen. Jared called me and invited me to meet him in Jacksonville, FL for the weekend to see if the chemistry was really what we thought it was. We met that weekend and have never really been apart for more than week since then. That was almost 11 years ago. And I am so blessed!!!!

Wes + Debbie

In September of 2005, Debbie was working at AMF Colonial Lanes after being medically separated from USAF Basic Training. Having a hard time adjusting to living at home with her 5 siblings, mom and live-in boyfriend, she spent a lot of time at the bowling alley, even outside of work. Wes was an 18 year old home-schooler who had nothing better to do than to come to the bowling alley with his two best friends, Jeremy and Steven. The day that their paths crossed wasn’t anything special. Debbie gave the 3 guys a pair of lanes to bowl on and after noting there was nothing else to do, she stepped around the counter and walked to their lane. She noticed out of the three guys, Wes was definitely the cutest. So, she started flirting with him. Being home-schooled and spending a lot of time at home with his mom, Wes was pretty much clueless about what was going on. A few days after, Wes came bowling with his dad. Debbie came to his lane and started flirting again. It was his dad that noticed the flirting. He told Wes “That girl likes you”. Wes looked confused, but continued flirting with Debbie. It was around mid-October that Wes had ended his relationship with his cheating girlfriend and came to the bowling alley to ask Debbie on their first date. Debbie was pretty excited because even though there were several people that she flirted with, Wes was at the top of the list. And after 22 years of having to be the more forward of the two when it came to relationships, she was even more impressed when Wes made the first move.

Even though the relationship ended mutually and on good terms in November, after Wes took the cheating girlfriend back, Wes and Debbie had already been out with each other several times to movies, restaurants, and bowling. They had already started to fall in love. Everyone knew except for them. It was apparent when Debbie would get a call from Wes, her face lit up with a big smile. Even Wes’s girlfriend had asked why he smiled so big when he got a call from Debbie. January 1, 2006, they finally quit fighting it, Wes got rid of his cheating girlfriend for good and Debbie fell in love, head over heels; something she didn’t think was possible after just a few months.

The story is still being told, after the engagement December 24th, 2006, the wedding September 8, 2007 and the birth of their first son, Tucker James on January 10th 2009. Her face still lights up when she sees his number on the caller id and he loves to come home and hold her in his arms.

It was because of Wes that Debbie had come back to the Lord and now the Lord has and is blessing their relationship and lives with nothing being withheld. Thank You Jesus for everything.

Dana— I know that’s more than just how we met, but I like the whole story J

Daniel + Amanda

Daniel and Amanda met, at all places, a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Hickory! They have only known each other for about a year but since then they have been inseparable! They have traveled a lot and even ran a marathon together!

Tim + Mindy

So….a wonderful 3 years ago, my now-fiance and I met on what is called “Alternative Spring Break.” We just graduated from Appalachian State University, and at ASU, Alternative Spring Break is a HUGE volunteer program that many, many, many students and staff get into every March! Well, I was the student trip leader that year…I was leading my A.S.B. trip to Tallahassee, Florida to do some dirty, grimy trail maintenance in the deep forests of Florida. Tim, one of two males on the trip (of 16 people), was super shy and reserved. Me…I was bouncy, crazy, and upbeat. We flirted for the first few days of the trip…you know, tapping each other on the shoulder, laughing at each other’s dumb comments, etc. This trip was only a week long, anyways. By the end of the trip (like, the last day), we were attached at the hip! We drove all the way back to NC, and when we finally got back to Boone, NC, we went and had our first vegetarian, “we’re really poor college students” date at Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar. So, when people ask how we met, I simply say: “We met through doing something that we both loved and still love: volunteering”. It’s just what we do. <3

Mandy and Ben

In a time where most people date someone for years and have at least a one year engagement before getting married, we’d like to think that our love story is unique.

At church one Sunday morning on July 10 2005, a young man named Ben was addressing how our congregation could be involved in relief efforts in Afghanistan where he had lived for the past two years. I had recently returned from living in China for two years doing similar work so naturally, I was interested in what he had to say. I was captivated as he eloquently and with much heartfelt conviction spoke of the people of Afghanistan. I wanted to hear more and I practically elbowed my way through a crowd of people to talk him. After a brief introduction lasting less than two minutes, we exchanged email addresses and said good bye. The very next day, Ben went back to Afghanistan.

Needless to say, we kept in touch. Dozens of emails and phone calls followed and we quickly fell in love. By September, we had planned a trip for me to visit Ben in January and on January 10, 2006 we finally had our first date. That date lasted three weeks and spanned three countries: The United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Afghanistan. On January 14, 2006, only the fourth day of ever seeing one another face to face, Ben asked me to marry him on a beach overlooking the Arabian Sea. It was the easiest question I have ever had to answer. On May 6, 2006 we were married in the same church where we first met.

God blessed us beyond our wildest imagination and did immeasurably more than we asked.. He prepared us separately for each other and all it took was for Him to cross our paths. We couldn’t have dreamed a more perfect story if we had tried.

VOTE HERE!

Session must take place in the greater Hickory area and will include the couple only….make it fun..get a sitter and go out on the town after your session!

SNOW!

Well we are not in Sweden anymore but who would guess it? I am lovin all of this beautiful white fluff we are receiving and I know this won’t be popular with many others in this area but keep it coming! We had to venture out yesterday to get a change of scenery. Olivia had fun in the park and here’s a shot from our little outing.

Sweet Baby James

Well babies are just everywhere these days! I have really enjoyed photographing newborns this time of year. After Christmas I really started thinking about last year at this time and sort of miss all of the excitement and anticipation I had over my little one. It is such a special time and I really appreciate the opportunity to document these moments!

Here’s one for the snow we are supposed to be getting. Doesn’t he look so cozy?!

And I just had to use his daddy’s fireman’s hat!

Anna Kate

I was so excited that Anna Kate finally decided to come into the world! And I can not get over how much hair she has…pretty sure she had more than I had when I was 2 years old. She is beautiful; congratulations you two!

Love all of the pink and green accents.

Lindsay + Joey | Childress Vineyards

Well you could say that I am just a little behind on the blogging! I thought I’d share a couple from a beautiful candlelit ceremony in the barrel room at Childress Vineyards in Lexington, NC. It was a cold and wet day but fortunately everything was held inside of the cozy barrel room and everyone stayed warm and dry.

Here’s just a couple:

God Jul!

God Jul everyone! God Jul means “Merry Christmas” in Swedish. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Christmas! We are celebrating Olivia’s first Christmas in Sweden this year with family and we have been having a blast! Swedes have their big celebration on Christmas Eve. Here are a few pictures…

First the obligatory picture in front of the Christmas Tree. She is still jet-lagged so she was not happy about this at first, but after a short nap on the car ride to her aunt’s she was feeling good again.

And the cousins all together. When we first got here, they came over to play and she had the time of her life! She loves these boys and they love her back. They are so cute!

A few detail shots of around Aunt Malin’s house. This is what Christmas is supposed to look like!

And so you may be wondering what Swedes do to celebrate “Jul”? Well, we eat. Lot’s and lot’s of eating! And yes, those are Swedish meatballs in that bowl. And yes, Swedes love them! The ham is a special Christmas ham….sort of the bread and butter of Christmas food here. It is SO good!

So instead of coming while everyone is sleeping, “tomte” or “Santa” as we call him, comes by the house to pass out the presents. I LOVE this picture of little Emil as he sees “tomte” for the first time. He is so surprised and a little scared. Poor Olivia had to be waken up for this and so she was just so confused as to what in the world was going on! She did have a good time playing with the ribbon though!

And it wouldn’t be a day in Sweden without coffee, or “fika, which sort of means coffee time. There’s always a sweet treat with coffee, like cake or cookies or even both. Yum, Yum!

So far it has been a great trip! We haven’t been out in the snow yet, but we hope to soon.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all you a wonderful and blessed Christmas this very special day!

All images and text COPYRIGHT © 2007 - 2010 Orange Cat Photography, unless otherwise specified. Unauthorized use or reproduction is strictly prohibited.

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